Several methods, including X-ray radiography, have been developed for the investigation of the characteristics of water-saturated quasi-brittle materials. Here, the water content is one of the most important factors influencing their strength and fracture properties, in particular, as regards to porous building materials. However, the research concentrated on the three-dimensional fracture propagation characteristics is still significantly limited due to the problems encountered with the instrumentation requirements and the size effect. In this paper, we study the influence of the water content in a natural quasi-brittle material on its mechanical characteristics and fracture development during in-situ four-point bending by employing high-resolution X-ray differential micro-tomography. The cylindrical samples with a chevron notch were loaded using an in-house designed four-point bending loading device with the vertical orientation of the sample. The in-house designed modular micro-CT scanner was used for the visualisation of the specimen’s behaviour during the loading experiments. Several tomographic scans were performed throughout the force-displacement diagrams of the samples. The reconstructed 3D images were processed using an in-house developed differential tomography and digital volume correlation algorithms. The apparent reduction in the ultimate strength was observed due to the moisture content. The crack growth process in the water-saturated specimens was identified to be different in comparison with the dry specimens.

In this work, we present a multimodal approach to three-dimensionally quantify and visualize fiber orientation and resin-rich areas in carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers manufactured by vacuum infusion. Three complementary image modalities were acquired by Talbot–Lau grating interferometer (TLGI) X-ray microcomputed tomography (XCT). Compared to absorption contrast (AC), TLGI-XCT provides enhanced contrast between polymer matrix and carbon fibers at lower spatial resolutions in the form of differential phase contrast (DPC) and dark-field contrast (DFC). Consequently, relatively thin layers of resin, effectively indiscernible from image noise in AC data, are distinguishable. In addition to the assessment of fiber orientation, the combination of DPC and DFC facilitates the quantification of resin-rich areas, e.g., in gaps between fiber layers or at binder yarn collimation sites. We found that resin-rich areas between fiber layers are predominantly developed in regions characterized by a pronounced curvature. In contrast, in-layer resin-rich areas are mainly caused by the collimation of fibers by binder yarn. Furthermore, void volume around two adjacent 90°-oriented fiber layers is increased by roughly 20% compared to a random distribution over the whole specimen.

We studied compression of tetrachiral auxetic lattice manufactured using laser powder bed fusion from an aluminum alloy. Using an in-house loading device integrated with an X-ray CT scanner, experiments, including in-situ loading with time-lapse XCT imaging, were performed to obtain 3D images of the lattice to study its geometry, internal structure, and deformation through an in-house digital volume correlation. Numerical analyses based on the voxel model from XCT imaging and the tetrahedral model based on the design geometry were performed. The correlation between the experiment and the simulations was sought by comparing force-displacement diagrams and Poisson’s ratio. Results show that 3D printing of the lattice may lead to significantly different mechanical characteristics. An analysis of the difference between the design geometry and the manufactured lattice, coupled with porosity assessment, was performed to discuss the reasons for the discrepancies between the anticipated deformation response of the lattice and its real behavior.

Compressive deformation behaviour of additively manufactured lattice structures based on re-entrant tetrakaidecahedral unit-cell geometry were experimentally investigated under quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions. Specimens of four different structures formed by three-dimensional periodical assembly of selected unit-cells were produced by a laser powder bed fusion technique from a powdered austenitic stainless steel SS316L. Quasi-static compression as well as dynamic tests using split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) apparatus at two strain-rates were conducted to evaluate the expected strain-rate sensitivity of the fundamental mechanical response of the structures. To evaluate the experiments, particularly the displacement fields of the deforming lattices, optical observation of the specimens using a high-resolution camera (quasi-static loading) and two synchronised high-speed cameras (SHPB experiments) was employed. An in-house digital image correlation algorithm was used in order to evaluate the anticipated auxetic nature of the investigated lattices. It was found that neither of the investigated structures exhibited auxetic behaviour although strain-rate sensitivity of the stress–strain characteristics was clearly identified for the majority of structures.